Battery Backorder? Since Nov '21

[SeattleLou]

Good to hear the iceberg is starting to move! I got an email last week from Customer Care that my battery is due in port to LA on 4/25. Can't understand why some get detailed info, vs single pieces of info. Anyway...

 

[BEC]

Well, I have an appointment to get the dealer to look at the battery SOH on July 1st.

I just ran it down to 3% this afternoon (that was not the plan, but that's how it worked out) which got me into flashing turtle mode before I got home. But...since we're finally sort of starting summer here in the Puget Sound region, I was able to recharge it while well above 50 degrees F. The GOM said 52 miles once the charge completed (we've been seeing 47 to 52 miles first thing in the morning for some weeks).

SoulSpy says the SOH is 58%, and that one cell has a deterioration of about 46% (cell 24). If the dealer gets something like this on July 1st I can at last start on the battery replacement wait. I plan to hang on to the car while waiting (gasoline is well over $5 a gallon around here, and 50 miles of range suits most things we need to do). As long as it stays somewhere near there we can get by for some time.

But getting a new battery with over 100 miles of range, as some others have reported, is something I look forward to. I will certainly treat that new battery more carefully. No more charging to 100% every time. But if charging to 80% gives ~80 miles of range, that will make me quite pleased.

More when I know more.

Oh, in case anyone is curious, the car has a little over 56,000 miles on it at the moment.

 

[jray3]

Hi Bernard,
My ‘16 with 82k miles is entering week 2 at KIA of Puyallup, WA. Diagnosed at 65% SOC on day 2 in the shop, we’ve been awaiting a response from Corporate since. My car is is usable, which is good since there’s been no improvement in the lead times for battery replacement. This is after I first saw SOH fall below 70% 6 months ago, though SOH then rose with lighter usage and a lot of time sitting at 100% SOC! I’m betting it’s going to be a full year between what should have been a warranty trigger and actually receiving a remedy…
-Jay
SeattleLou, I’m suspecting we have the same service advisor?

 

[jray3]

Warranty replacement of the traction battery finally approved today! Fortunately it is uniform capacity loss without sick cells, so we’ll just drive it till the replacement battery comes in. Only downside of being at 82k miles now is that the replacement pack will be barely broken in when the warranty expires!

 

[BEC]

Just back from Kia of Puyallup and the appointment I posted about above. It was interesting in that even though the appointment was about poor range and needing to document battery health, the first thing they did was test and got 76% state of charge and 77% state of health. That was a surprise since I’d gotten 58.8% state of health from SoulSpy just last night and the GOM estimate on a full charge in the morning lately has been 47-49 miles.

I got back into the car suspecting that they’d reset the BMS before reading it (as they are told not to in the Service Bulletin about this) but when I turned the car on it showed the same GOM value (24 miles) that I’d seen when I came in. I turned the car off, and it reported 54% state of charge. I went back in and basically asked what the heck was going on and that their diagnostic tool couldn’t possibly differ that much from the SOC the car displays. After some discussion with the folks at the service desk one of them went back to talk to the technician and we found out that he had checked the 12V battery!! While I’m glad the original 12V battery is pretty healthy, that wasn’t why I was there.

A couple of moments later the service manager came out, apologized and said they’d do the correct check as soon as their EV tech got back from lunch.

A while later the car disappeared back into the service bays and not too long after that the service manager came back to me and told me he’d started a Techline case as the SOH of the drive battery was 58.9% per their instruments. So…0.1% higher than what SoulSpy told me last night. He said once it’s authorized, and he said that typically takes 24 hours, they’d order the replacement battery. There was no discussion on how long it might take to get in.

This being Friday, I don’t expect that I’ll hear anything about authorization until next week. I’ll make it a point to call them Tuesday (or maybe swing by, I have another appointment in the area on Tuesday morning) to see if they’re proceeding and maybe get a read on how far away the battery might be, time-wise.

In the end, the trip today did exactly what I had hoped it would do — it at least initialized the battery replacement process.

The car has 56,700 miles on it now. We will keep driving it as long as we can in the meantime.

More when I hear more.

 

[jray3]

Wow Bernard, and to think this error was just a few daze after KIA of Puyallup finally approved my battery replacement. You’re making me want to go back and re-read the previous service records for a 12V clue- they had claimed a much higher SOH than my SoulSpy readings 5 months ago, effectively delaying the replacement decision all this time…

 

[Kemo]

Hell-o all My 2018 has been at the dealership since Dec 12 2021 with 76,600 miles. No information when will it arrive.

 

[jray3]

SOULSPY says I’m now down to 40.5% SOC and range has been falling like a rock, rarely above 50 miles at 100% SOC in the past week, so I’m turning it in for a rental tomorrow, which I’ll keep for the months ahead till my SOUL is whole. Took all week to get a car lined up due to low inventory at Enterprise. Nope, they wouldn’t turn over the keys for that EV6 on the lot!

 

[Nigel]

I've had my replacement battery for a couple of months now on my 2016 Soul EV. Took 7 months to arrive but now it's here I've been monitoring the battery over 10 full cycle battery charge discharge cycles from 100% down to about 20% and back up to 100%;

First cycle gave me a range of 189km compared to the max I'd ever seen on the original battery of 169km. Thought it might just be calibration of the BMS but I have driven the car enough now with a mix of highway, side streets, AC on, AC off etc to confirm that this range is real with 100% coming in at 190 to 192km. Simple math on the range almost points to a 31kWh battery???

I don't know what the dealership installed - the dealership says its a direct replacement of the original 27kWh battery - but it clearly has more capacity than the original battery. Has anyone else had this experience? Either way I'm pretty happy with the outcome and it will be interesting to see how the range changes in the fall/winter.

 

[IanL]

It seems KIA are now using the new technology cells (introduced in the 2018 MY 30 kWh batteries) for replacing the original cells in earlier 27 kWh cars.

I think this results in the nominal capacity of the battery increasing from 27 kWh to 28.8 kWh, because the 27kWh batteries have 96 cell-pairs, and the 30 kWh have 100. 30*96/100 = 28.8.

Range values on the GOM reflect historic driving patterns, current and historic weather as well as the SOH of the battery, so comparisons have to be treated with caution. Having said that, my 30 kWh battery, now over 4 years and 40,000 miles, is still at about 102.5% SOH, so it is reasonable to assume that the new cells are in the region of 103%. This would suggest that your new battery could be 28.8*103/100 = 29.66 kWh.

 

[JejuSoul]

I've had my replacement battery for a couple of months now on my 2016 Soul EV. ... this range is real with 100% coming in at 190 to 192km. Simple math on the range almost points to a 31kWh battery???... Has anyone else had this experience?...

Yes.
My reality is the same as yours.
It is now 2 1/2 years since I had the battery replaced on my white 27kWh 2015 Soul EV.
I've driven over 40,000km on the new battery.
All testing I have done shows an actual useable capacity of 30kWh.

See :- Analysis of a replacement battery.

-

 

[Calaveras]

I just got my 2017 Soul EV back from the dealership and they replaced the traction battery. It has been more than 6 months.

I drove it 60 miles and the guessOmeter still shows 40 miles of range. That is a good indicator. I will drive my normal 48 mile round trip commute twice next week without charging and see what it shows.
I am very happy with the warranty replacement with no fuss, but disappointed that it took so long. I have 50,000 miles in 5 years and I am hoping to get another 50k in 5 years of it.

 

[BEC]

SOULSPY says I’m now down to 40.5% SOC and range has been falling like a rock, rarely above 50 miles at 100% SOC in the past week, so I’m turning it in for a rental tomorrow, which I’ll keep for the months ahead till my SOUL is whole. Took all week to get a car lined up due to low inventory at Enterprise. Nope, they wouldn’t turn over the keys for that EV6 on the lot!

Heck, I’d settle for a new Niro EV…..

Similar story here. I haven’t yet turned ours in for a rental car, though I did discuss that with the folks at Kia of Puyallup this past Monday. In order to do that I have to leave the car there, and was told that there is some delay in getting a car from Enterprise….though a week seems a bit daunting.

My GOM range on a full charge is down to 35 miles and seems to drop about 1 estimated mile with every attempt to do a full charge. I am finding that a Level 3 DC charger (my usual one at Fred Meyer in Redmond) pretty much stops charging at ~72%, and even level 2 charge rate tapers off dramatically for the last 10% or so. When the battery was still above 70% SOH, the level 2 charge times reflected the lower usable capacity (3 hours to full instead of 4) but now that is no longer true.

Last time I heard from Kia corporate, my battery was somewhere between having been built in Korea and arriving in port in California. I was told at the time (about three weeks ago now) that they were fulfilling mid-June replacement battery orders, so I could expect mine to be available mid-September.

I don’t know how much more we can milk it before I give up and have them get me that rental. We’ve begun only charging to 80% overnight, even though that gives a GOM range of 26 miles in the morning.

I also got a fright climbing a hill a few days ago. I was going up the west side of the valley at 55 mph on a fairly steep hill — one that has always been fun to scoot up in the Soul — when the car dropped into turtle mode and reduced power. I was 2/3 of the way up the hill and in the left lane when this happened. Scary. Once I got to the top, no more turtle mode and I haven’t seen it since. I have also noticed that regen on a downhill is flaky. Clearly the BMS is trying really hard to protect that weakest cell (#24).

I sure hope that when the new battery finally gets here I have similar results to those of you who have gotten new, better batteries installed.

 

[jray3]

Good news; Corporate says that my battery shipped this week! No updates from Puyallup KIA though. A word on getting a Niro EV. When I turned in the SOUL for a loaner car, they of course wanted to gimme an econobox, but I negotiated up to a Grand Cherokee, since no EVs were available. That beast returned 23.6 mpg over the next 2600 miles on a family road trip, about the same as our minivan would’ve. I then checked back w Enterprise, and turns out they have a Niro EV in the fleet, expected back soon! I swapped the Cherokee for the Niro a few daze later, and it has returned 256 to 301 miles RR after full charging! Bernard, I’d happily conspire to get this Niro to you next if my battery swap is finished first, send a PM.

 

[jray3]

My SOUL has been restored! After only a test drive, received car at 83% SOC and 107 mi RR. Will exercise over the next few daze and see how it sorts out, and take some SoulSPY readings. Dealer invoice to KIA Corporate was about $25k total, with approx $14,500 worth of battery. They quoted a $2500 core charge if I wanted to keep the battery. Cheap enough to be tempting for about 10 usable kWH of LiPo, but not when I've got lower mileage LFP on hand for the long list of DIY projects.
Zero data on the new pack, no other intel collectible from the service advisors...
Puyallup KIA has finally replaced their dead DCFC with a Tritium dual-standard pedestal, but it's been lit up yet nonfunctional for two weeks now...

 

[BEC]

Wow — good to hear. When I last spoke with Linda at Kia corporate (9/8) she said there were 10 ahead of me to get a new battery. You must’ve been one of them.

How long after the battery shipped did it take for it to be received in Puyallup and then installed?

We still have the Soul. I’ve been charging it to 80% which gives ~24 miles on the GOM. I’ve also had it drop into “turtle mode” several times now. First it was going up a big hill, but yesterday it was just cruising on I-5 in Tacoma at traffic speed of about 65 mph. It did it again on the way back from Tacoma Mall…and once it dropped out I could force it back in by just putting my foot down.

Regenerative braking has also been….odd, especially if it’s above about 60% state of charge indicated. (Ah, looking at my prior post, I think I’m repeating my self a bit).

Just took a look with SoulSpy. Battery state of health is down to 35.4% Cell 24 is showing the worst deterioration at 71.4%. Cell 1 is showing zero deterioration. Sounds like SK Innovation had some process issues.

Between the two I can see that the BMS is doing it’s doggondest to keep me from doing something really horrible with the worst cell in the battery.

Will PM about the Niro EV.

 

[BEC]

Puyallup KIA has finally replaced their dead DCFC with a Tritium dual-standard pedestal, but it's been lit up yet nonfunctional for two weeks now...

I was down there today dropping off our Soul EV for its new battery (not yet shipped from California, but hopefully while we are out of town) so that we could get the rental car thing started. I poked Gavin behind the desk a bit about that charger, which is now coned off. He said they have been waiting for three weeks now for someone from the folks who put it in to turn on whatever feature it needs to have activated so that they can charge for usage…..

 

[BEC]

UPDATE: I got a call from LInda at Kia corporate on Friday morning (November 11th) reporting that my battery (and 24 others!) had been shipped from the California checkout site on Wednesday. I then called my service adviser at Kia of Puyallup and gave him that information (he had not, apparently, gotten any sort of notification). He went into his parts system and told me that indeed two Kia Soul EV replacement batteries were expected there that day. (There is another Soul EV besides ours at their shop awaiting a battery.)

So….it looks like my original guesstimate when the Techline case was opened in early July that we’d have the new battery installed by Thanksgiving is on track. Or maybe we are a bit ahead that timeframe. The service advisor told me that since the car was already there (they’ve had it for about six weeks now and we have a rented Toyota Corolla in the driveway that they supplied since a couple of days after that), that they’d just pull it in and work on it once the battery was actually on hand. And I’ve already been told I can drop the rental off at the dealership when that time comes, which will save running two cars down there.

I have not heard whether the battery did actually arrive yesterday or not, but I will check with them early next week to see where things are.

I am sure looking forward to not having to spend $50-60 to fill our Mazda 3 up every 10 days or so, but to go back to once every couple of months instead. In fact, if we really do get a better-than-original battery as some have suggested we will, and our range goes up to a consistent ~100 miles (at least in warm weather) then the Mazda might go back to being even more lonely….except for road trips.

 

[BEC]

Well, the Soul EV is back in the driveway, showing 101 miles of range on the GOM with a full charge. If that turns out to be real, I will be well and truly satisfied with the replacement/upgrade (well, as long as the battery holds up, anyway).

The plan to help the battery live longer than the first one is to set the overnight charge timer to bring it to 80% and only charge to 100% when we need the extra range for the day. We shall see how doable that really is. But if this 1 mile per percent of battery charge is real, it will have nearly the same range on an 80% charge as it did on a full change when it was new in September of 2016.

Soul Spy (unsurprisingly) shows no state-of-health info yet on the “CAR’ screen. Going into the winter now, it’s unlikely that the conditions necessary to get the BMS to update that info are going to happen until April or May….so we shall see how it goes. Maybe I need to start using the trip meter to monitor how well the GOM actually is guessing.

@jray3, it looks like the fast charger in front of Kia of Puyallup is now live (my card was plugged into the CHAdeMO side of it when I got there to pick it up), but the CCS Combo side was ICE’d with one of their own vehicles when I was there

There was another blue/white Soul EV in the next spot over — I’m presuming this is the one that got the other battery they received the other day.

 

[jdohe79179]

Hi, I'm new to the forum. I just been approved for a battery pack replacement part number 37510E4200R which from my research is a remanufactured battery pack assembly. My dealer released the car back to me pending arrival of the replacement parts. my State of Health is at 56.5%. It seems that there is not a consistent understanding about whether there is warranty issue concerning the release of the car back to me while waiting for the parts. Has anyone run into this issue that they wouldn't honor the warranty due to the release of the car back to customer. Also is there a different time frame for delivery of remanufactured batteries vs new batteries? If anybody has input, please respond.
Thanks